Chance, Sir Arthur Gerald
Chance, Sir Arthur Gerald (1859–1928), surgeon, was born 15 June 1859 in Dublin, one of at least two sons of Albert Chance, engineer, a Londoner, and Elizabeth Mary Chance (née Fleming) of Dublin. He was educated at the Catholic University medical school, Dublin, and was admitted…...
Charles, John James
Charles, John James (1845–1912), physiologist, was born 13 December 1845, probably at Loy House, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, eldest among seven sons of David H. Charles, doctor and JP at Cookstown, and Annie E. Charles (née Allen). He attended…...
Charles, Robert Henry
Charles, Robert Henry (1855–1931), Biblical scholar, was born 6 August 1855 at Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, probably in Loy House, fifth of the seven sons of Dr David H. Charles and Annie E. Charles (née Allen). He attended Belfast Academy and won a scholarship to…...
Charles, Sir (Richard) Havelock
Charles, Sir (Richard) Havelock (1858–1934), 1st baronet, anatomist, was born 10 March 1858, sixth among seven sons of Dr David H. Charles and Annie E. Charles (née Allen), of Loy House, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone. He adopted his father's profession, and was trained at…...
Chesney, Francis Rawdon
Chesney, Francis Rawdon (1789–1872), soldier and explorer, was born 16 March 1789 at Ballyveagh, near Annalong, Co. Down, eldest son of Capt. Alexander Chesney, coastguard officer, of Ballymena, Co. Antrim, and his second wife, Jane (née Wilson), of Ballymena. Capt. Chesney had been…...
Cheyne, John
Cheyne, John (1777–1836), physician, was born 3 February 1777 in Leith, Scotland, into a family of sixteen children; his father, ‘a man of great cheerfulness, benevolence, good sense, and singleness of mind’, practised medicine, and his mother was a daughter of William Edmonton,…...
Churchill, Fleetwood
Churchill, Fleetwood (1808–78), obstetrician and medical writer, was born 21 February 1808 in Nottingham, England, third among four sons (the first two of whom died in infancy) and one daughter of Fleetwood Churchill (1772–1811), mercer, and Hannah Churchill (née Page). He was…...
Clanny, William Reid
Clanny, William Reid (1776–1850), doctor and inventor of a safety lamp, was born in 1776 at Bangor, Co. Down, of a presbyterian family. He joined the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon and was present at the battle of Copenhagen (1801); on leaving the navy, he completed his training…...
Clare, Anthony Ward
Clare, Anthony Ward (1942–2007), psychiatrist and media personality, was born 24 December 1942 in Dublin, the youngest of three children (two girls and a boy) of Bernard Clare, state solicitor with the land registry, and his wife Agnes (née Dunne). Clare recalled his father as a gentle…...
Clarke, Adam
Clarke, Adam (1760/62–1832), methodist minister and scholar, was born at Moybeg, near Maghera, Co. Londonderry, son of John Clarke (fl. 1762), schoolmaster, whose early marriage to a Miss McLean prevented him from completing a degree in…...
Clarke, Joseph
Clarke, Joseph (1758–1834), physician, was born 8 April 1758 at Tamnadoey in the parish of Desertlin, Co. Londonderry, second son of James Clarke, well-to-do farmer; his mother may have been a Maconchy. He attended local schools and was taught Latin by a clergyman; his mother's…...
Cleghorn, George
Cleghorn, George (1716–89), doctor, was born 18 December 1716 at Granton, near Edinburgh, Scotland, youngest of five children; his father (possibly also named George), a farmer, died when Cleghorn was three years old. He attended Cramond Grammar School and went to Edinburgh…...
Clemens Scottus
Clemens Scottus (‘the Irishman’) (fl. c.800), scholar, was teacher at the palace school at Aachen under Charlemagne (d. 814) and his son Louis the Pious. A letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne, dated 797, refers to the presence of Irish scholars at the palace court, one of…...
Clery, Anthony Burton
Clery, Anthony Burton (1899–1979), surgeon, was born 28 January 1899 in Reendesert, Co. Cork, youngest of four sons and one daughter of Patrick Francis Clery (d. c.1909), bank official, from Limerick, and Gertrude Clery (née Dolan) of Co. Cavan. He was educated (1912–15) at…...
Clinch, James Bernard
Clinch, James Bernard (1770–1834), scholar and pamphleteer, was born 16 July 1770 in James's St., Dublin, fifth son of Joseph Clinch, a merchant originally from Ratoath, Co. Meath, and Mary Clinch (née Higgins) from Knockmane, Co. Roscommon. Educated at the Rev. Beragh's academy…...
Clossy, Samuel
Clossy, Samuel (c. 1724–1786), pioneering anatomist, was born in Dublin, son of Bartholomew Clossy, a prosperous city merchant, and Anne Ogle. After early schooling in Cashel, Co. Tipperary, he entered TCD (1739) under the…...
Cockburn, Sir George
Cockburn, Sir George (1764–1847), soldier, traveller, writer, and antiquary, was born 18 February 1764 in Dublin, only child of George Cockburn (d. 1775), a Scottish businessman who settled in Ireland in 1739 and married Ann (d. 1769), second of two children of Charles Caldwell,…...
Coffey, Victoria
Coffey, Victoria (1911–99), one of the first female paediatricians in Ireland, was born 16 September 1911 at 108 Brunswick Street, Dublin, the daughter of John Coffey, a weigh-master, and Ellie Coffey (née McCall). Her paternal grandfather, William Coffey, had been lord mayor of Dublin…...
Colahan, Arthur Nicholas Whistler
Colahan, Arthur Nicholas Whistler (1885–1952), medical doctor and songwriter, was born in Galway city, eldest son of Nicholas Whistler Colahan (d. 1930), professor of materia medica at QCG, and grandson of Nicholas Colahan (president of…...
Colgan, Nathaniel
Colgan, Nathaniel (1851–1919), botanist, marine biologist, and traveller, was born 28 May 1851 in Dublin. The identity of his parents is not known with certainty, though they may have been Nathaniel Watson Colgan and Letitia Phair, who married in Dublin in 1846. Colgan was educated…...
Colleary, (James) Gordon
Colleary, (James) Gordon (1941–2014), travel entrepreneur and newspaper publisher, was born on 7 March 1941 in Tuam, Co. Galway, the eldest of five children of Gerald Francis Calleary, headmaster of Tuam Vocational School, and his wife Josephine Margaret Calleary (née Gordon). (The…...
Colles, Abraham
Colles, Abraham (1773–1843), surgeon, was born 23 July 1773 at Millmount, Co. Kilkenny, second son among three sons and one daughter of William Colles, owner of Kilkenny marble quarries, and Mary Anne Colles (née Bates). Educated at Kilkenny College, he entered…...
Collier, Michael
Collier, Michael (1780–1849), highwayman, was born at Bellewstown Hill, Co. Meath, son of a small farmer; no other details of his parents are known. Aged 13, he was employed as a farm labourer in Co. Louth, and he later worked as a carman on the Dublin–Drogheda mail coach (where he…...
Collins, Jerome James
Collins, Jerome James (1841–81) meteorologist, Arctic explorer, and founder of Clan na Gael, was born 17 October 1841 in Cork city, the son of Mark Collins, a lime and saltworks owner of South Main Street, Cork, and his wife Ellen (née Ryan). He attended St Vincent's Seminary,…...
Collis, (William) Robert Fitzgerald (‘Bob’)
Collis, (William) Robert Fitzgerald (‘Bob’) (1900–75), paediatrician, author, and rugby player, was born 16 February 1900 at Kilmore, Killiney, Co. Dublin, one of twin sons (his twin was John Stewart Collis (qv)) of William Stewart…...